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Birth in flight: what about nationality
Births on board an airplane are extremely rare, for the good reason thattravel is generally avoided when the pregnancy is too advanced. Nevertheless, these unexpected deliveries occur and each time generate a media frenzy. Because obviously many questions arise: what will be the nationality of the baby? Will he be able to travel for free on the company all his life as we often hear? In France, no law prohibits a woman from flying even if she is about to give birth. Some companies, especially low cost ones, may however refuse boarding to expectant mothers. near term or request a medical certificate. Contrary to urban legend, children born in the sky will not have access to free tickets for life in the company. Other carriers, on the other hand, are more generous. Thus, SNCF and RATP usually offer free travel to children born on trains or subways until they come of age.
Most often, the child acquires the nationality of his parents
Only one text contains a provision concerning the nationality of a child born in flight. According to article 3 of the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, “ A child born on board a boat or plane will have the nationality of the country in which the device is registered. ” This text only applies if the child is stateless, in other words in very rare cases. Otherwise, there is no international convention regulating inflight births. To determine the nationality of the infant, reference must be made to the internal law of each State.
In France, for example, a child is not considered to be born in France because it was born on a French plane. It’s the blood rights, therefore the nationality of the parents which prevails. A baby born in the air, who has at least one French parent, will thus be French. Most countries operate on this system. The United States prevails the right of the ground, but it adopted an amendment which stipulates that the planes are not part of the national territory if they do not fly over the country. Thus, the baby will be able to obtain American nationality only if the plane was flying over the United States at the time of birth. If the mother gave birth above the ocean, the baby will obtain the nationality of his parents.
Birthplace
How to determine the place of birth ? A circular of October 28, 2011 specifies: “When the child is born in France during a land or air trip, the birth declaration is in principle received by the registrar of civil status. the municipality of the place where the childbirth interrupted her trip. If a woman gives birth on a Paris-Lyon flight, she will have to declare the birth to the Lyon authorities.